Portable in-the-vehicle road simulator

ABSTRACT

The portable simulation system is a computer-based driving simulator, which uses an actual vehicle as an input device, and a portable display to present a Virtual Driving Environment (VDE) to the driver. Vehicle&#39;s steered wheels are placed atop of the turntables permitting free operation of the steering wheel. The vehicle remains immobile while its engine and power steering can be turned off during the simulation. External non-invasive sensors can be placed under the gas and brake pedals, permitting any vehicle to be used in the simulator, including the driver&#39;s own vehicle. A digital interface to the vehicle&#39;s systems, like OBD II, can be used to increase the fidelity of the simulation. A portable computer used for driving simulation and VDE presentation provides a low cost simulation option. A simple configuration of the portable simulator does not require an external power source and can be set-up and operated at any parking space. Possible applications of the simulation system include driver training and testing.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuing application of U.S. application Ser.No. 10/742,613, filed on Dec. 19, 2003 now abandoned, which is acontinuation of PCT application serial number PCT/US03/10529 filed onApr. 7, 2003 which claims priority under the Paris Convention and 35U.S.C. §119(e) from a U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No.60/370,277, filed on Apr. 5, 2002, which provisional application isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As public roads are becoming more and more congested, there is anincreasing need to better train drivers of motor vehicles to decreasethe number of road accidents. For example, one of the major causes ofaccidents, especially among younger drivers, is their inability torecognize a dangerous road situation due to the obstructed line-of-sightand path-of-travel. It is often very time consuming to train students torecognize dangerous road situations during the actual behind-the-wheeldriving session. Such situations do not present themselves in arepeatable, consistent manner to each student driver. There aresignificant time gaps between their occurrences, which have a very largemargin of error, causing a student to make unnoticed mistakesfrequently. Unnoticed driving mistakes, in turn, cause the students todevelop bad driving skills.

It is also very difficult to train drivers in hazardous road conditionswithout compromising the safety of the driver. Examples of suchhazardous road conditions may include slippery roads, over-speeding onsharp turns, etc.

Training through driving simulation generally addresses the aboveissues.

A variety of solutions to the above-identified problem have dealt withsimulation driving experiences. Those solutions broadly fall into twocategories: (1) modifications of stock vehicles to simulate hazardousroad conditions, and (2) complete computer-based simulated drivingenvironments not involving a real vehicle.

Modifications of stock vehicles usually call for a dedicated vehicle tobe used only for training, which cannot be otherwise used for driving.Simulation of the hazardous road conditions in such dedicated vehiclesusually provides realistic haptic and motion feedback, while thespectrum of simulated experiences is limited mostly to tire skids.

Computer-based simulated driving environments, while providing the mosttraining benefits, require a dedicated maintained floor space. They alsofrequently require a real car cabin to be used to achieve a high enoughdegree of realism of the simulation. When the kind of a training vehicleneeds to be changed, the changing procedure usually calls for a cabinreplacement, which is very costly and time consuming.

Both of the above-described categories also do not allow a driver to getthe advantageous training inside the driver's own vehicle.

The present invention addresses the need to provide portability andrealistic feel of driving an actual vehicle while not exposing thedriver to the real hazardous road situation during training. The systemof the present invention, can be quickly set-up and used in anyavailable parking space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a general view of a portable system with an actual vehicle.

FIG. 2 is high-level block diagram of a simulator.

FIG. 3 is schematic illustration of sensors and interfaces for reading areal-time state of the vehicle's controls.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a digital interface between avehicle's controls and on-board sensors.

FIG. 5 is schematic illustration of audio-visual output devices.

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of actuators.

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of a simulation engine software andcourseware running on a computer.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Turning now to FIG. 1, shown there is a portable system for drivingsimulation coupled with an actual vehicle. In operation, adriver/trainee uses an actual vehicle to drive up on a two-piece ramp 2.It should be appreciated that the driver can use any actual vehicle,including his or her own vehicle to receive the desired training. Thechoice of a vehicle provide the driver with an advantage to receivetraining in and get used to the vehicle that the driver will be actuallydriving after completing the training program. It should also be notedthat the terms “driver”, “student”, “user” and “trainee” are usedthroughout this description interchangeably.

After the vehicle is positioned on the two-piece ramp 2, the engine ofthe vehicle is turned off. Steered wheels 1, controlled by the vehicle'ssteering wheel, located inside the cabin, are placed and optionallylocked on top of turntables 3. Each turntable 3 can rotate around itsown vertical axis, following the steering movements of the steeredwheels 1.

While the vehicle is immobile and its power steering is not active,turntables 3 allow the driver/trainee to operate the steering wheel ofthe vehicle without applying excessive force, which would have beennecessary on the actual road due to the friction between the steeredwheels and the surface of the road while the vehicle is immobile. Thesteering wheel must be unlocked during the operation of the portablesystem of the present invention while the engine of the vehicle isturned off. In most vehicles turning off is accomplished by turning thekey in the ignition of the vehicle without starting the engine. If areal-time force-feedback effect to the steering wheel is desired to beprovided to the driver, the effect can be provided by optional steeringactuators 61 located inside the turntables 3. Since the engine of thevehicle is not running during the simulation, the power steering is notactive. To compensate for this lack of the actual power steering,smaller-than-natural forces can be applied to the steered wheels 1 ofthe vehicle by the steering actuators 61 in order to generate therealistic feedback.

Regardless whether the steering actuators 61 are present in the portablesimulation system, the steering wheel returns to its central positiondriven by the natural forces resulting from exerting the weight of thevehicle to the Steering Angle Inclination (SAI) of the steered wheels 1.If the steering actuators 61 are used, the force returning the steeringwheel to its central position depends on the simulated speed of thevehicle and is defined by the simulation software.

An optional steering sensor 39 (shown in FIG. 3) is used to generateinformation about a position of the steering wheel in order to generatecorresponding simulated view of the road. The optional steering sensor39 should be used when the vehicle's own built-in steering sensor is notavailable.

Inside the vehicle an optional brake pedal sensor and actuator can bepositioned under a brake pedal 34 (also shown in FIG. 3). An optionalgas pedal sensor can be positioned under a gas pedal 35 (also shown inFIG. 3). The optional brake pedal sensor and the optional gas pedalsensor should be used when the vehicle's own built-in brake pedal andgas pedal sensors are not available. For practical reasons both brakepedal and gas pedal sensors can be mounted in a single enclosure. Asshown in FIG. 6, an optional actuator 63 coupled to the brake pedal 34can be used to simulate an anti-lock brake (ABS) pulsation.

FIG. 2 shows a high-level block diagram of the portable simulator. Asshown in FIG. 2, computing means 22 receive input data from non-invasivemeans for reading real-time state of the vehicle controls 21. A portablecomputer, such as a notebook computer having built-in 3D graphicsprocessor can be used as computing means. The computer processes theinput data and generates a Virtual Driving Environment (VDE) to beprovided to the driver using audio and visual means 24. Audio and visualmeans normally consist of a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) and a set ofheadphones. Alternatively, other forms of portable displays can beemployed, such as LCD screens pasted on the inside of the vehicle'swindows, as well as a set of external speakers might be used. The VDE ispresented to the driver in the field of view corresponding to the headorientation of the driver provided by the head tracker 25. To improvethe fidelity of the simulation, the computer 22 controls an optionalplurality of actuators 23, shown in further detail in FIG. 6, comprisinga steering actuator 61, a motion feedback cushion 62 and an ABSpulsation actuator 63.

Shown in FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of the software forsimulating a VDE running on the computing means 22. In the preferredembodiment the software is running on a portable computer powered by thebattery of the vehicle or by the computer's own battery, thereforeeliminating the need in an external power source. The portable computeris controlled by a Simulation Engine Software 72 processing thereal-time state data from various vehicle controls, described furtherbelow. The Simulation Engine Software 72 processes the data from thehead tracking sensor 25 (shown in FIG. 2) to generate an appropriategraphical representation of the VDE on the screen(s) of a Head MountingDisplay 4 (HMD) as shown in FIG. 1. The Simulation Engine Software 72 isnormally designed and maintained by software engineers. It provides anintermediate language for driver educators and researchers to describe avariety of road situations, or “scenarios”, having an educational value.

Courseware Components 71, shown in FIG. 7, comprise driving lessons and“scenarios” created by the driving educators and researchers, whogenerally do not have a background in software engineering. DifferentCourseware Components can be designed by different organizations. Theycan be put together in sequences to design the desired curriculum.

The portable computer also comprises a sound processor that generatesaudio signals to enhance the representation of the VDE and communicateverbal instructions to the driver via headphones 52, shown in FIG. 5,frequently built into the HMD.

In order to reduce what is known to be “simulation sickness” sometimesresulting from the mismatch of the visual cues and the physical bodycues, the driver can use an optional motion feedback cushion 62 shown inFIG. 6. Motion feedback cushions of the type commonly used in computergames usually comprise a set of low-frequency power speakers pushedagainst a person's back to apply vibrations to the person's body. Anundesirable effect of the “simulation sickness” can be reduced byapplying variations of the vibration patterns reflecting the changes inthe driving conditions in the VDE. An optional brake pedal ABS-pulsationactuator 63 can be used to provide the simulated effect of operating anAnti-Lock Brake System.

Simulating operation of a vehicle using an actual vehicle can beaccomplished by placing a pair of turntables 3 under the steered wheels1 of the vehicle, as shown in FIG. 1, to relieve the friction of thesteered wheels of the actual vehicle with a road surface. Placing theturntables under the steered wheels makes it possible for the steeredwheels to be steered freely while the vehicle is immobile, enabling theactual vehicle's steering to be operated by a user without usingexcessive force. The method further comprises providing computing means22 reading the real-time data of the state of the vehicle's controls tosimulate a Virtual Driving Environment (VDE). The computing means ispreferably a portable computer with a Simulation Engine Software. Thesoftware receives an input of the real-time data from the head trackingsensor 25, mounted on the HMD. The head tracking sensor communicates theexact orientation of the driver's head to the computer, so that theappropriate field of view of the VDE can be generated by the computerand displayed to the driver. In other words, using all of theabove-described data, the computer generates a graphical representationof the VDE at the current orientation of the driver's head and displaysthe graphical representation by the portable audio and visual means tothe driver. An audio output may contain, but is not limited to, anengine noise, traffic noise, and audio instructions.

Also in accordance with the present invention a method of training of astudent driver can be accomplished by using an actual vehicle while itis immobilized to allow the student driver sitting in the vehicle to usethe vehicle's steering wheel to drive through the Virtual DrivingEnvironment (VDE). Driving through the VDE, simulated by the computerand audio-visual means, provides rich simulated driving experience tothe student driver. The experience can comprise encountering simulatedreal life-like road dangers and practicing avoidance skills. The studentdriver can also safely practice risk assessment skills during thedriving simulation. Optional other Computer Based Training (CBT) meanscan be employed between the driving lessons. The CBT means can be anyeducational activities performed outside of a simulated driving lesson.The CBT means can include, but are not limited to, short fragments of avideo presented to the student driver, followed by a commentary and aseries of questions. A combination of the simulated driving activitieswith non-simulated CBT can be used to promote development andmaintenance of the long-term driving skills. Driving through the VDE,simulated by the computer using audio and visual means capable ofproviding immediate feedback to the student driver, enhances theeffectiveness of driver training. Training of the student driver isusually accomplished by using a curriculum comprising a series ofdriving lessons by repeating the above-described steps as many times asdeemed desirable. A typical length of a lesson can be 10 to 15 minuteseach.

Also, in accordance with the present invention a method of assessingdriver's skills in the actual immobilized vehicle can be performed byusing the actual vehicle, such as the driver's own vehicle, andpresenting the driver with the simulated driving experience by drivingthrough the Virtual Driving Environment (VDE). The driving simulation isaccomplished by a computer and audio and visual means. While the driverdrives through the VDE, measurements of the driver's performancecharacteristics can be taken.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A portable system for simulating operationof a vehicle using an actual vehicle, the portable system comprising:means for relieving the friction of steered wheels of the actual vehiclewith a road surface, wherein the friction is relieved sufficiently forthe actual vehicle's steering to be operated using force not exceedingthe force required to steer the actual vehicle in motion while theactual vehicle is immobile; a computer for simulating a Virtual DrivingEnvironment (VDE); software for simulating the VDE running on thecomputer; audio and visual presentation devices presenting thecomputer-generated VDE to a user; non-invasive sensors reading areal-time state of a plurality of vehicle's controls configured to senddata to said computer; and a motion feedback cushion providing physicalbody cues.